Wednesday's Words

"What if the best way to end drunk driving is to end driving?"

-- Sommer Mathis, columnist for CityLab.com

Companies such as Uber and Lyft, which allow customers to book a ride through their smartphones may have added benefits to communities by reducing the number of drunk drivers.  Uber claimed that DUI's dropped by 10 percent in Seattle once its services became available.  If these services, which run on credit cards, take cash out of transactions as well, they may also cut down on other kinds of crime like theft as well.  The Washington Post recently looked into the impact that these companies may be having on communities.  Click here to see its findings.

Wednesday's Words

 

“There are more bridges out there than there is money, but this will help a great deal."

-- KDOT Secretary Mike King quoted in today's Hutchinson News.

Secretary King announced Tuesday in Hutchinson that $10 million would be available to replace small bridges that are rated deficient.  These bridges typically have little traffic, but are critical to getting agriculture products to market.  To learn more about this new program, click here.

Wednesday's Words

"We encourage Congress to address the short-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, but there also are long-term funding and policy issues that need addressed," said Mike Hancock, Secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and AASHTO President. "AASHTO and its member states remain committed to working with Congress on a long-term reauthorization bill."

On Tuesday, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Board of Directors passed a resolution that calls upon Congress to ensure the solvency of the nation's Highway Trust Fund this summer, before the Federal Highway Administration is forced to begin delaying reimbursements to states for transportation work underway.  Hancock's statement is from the news release AASHTO sent out announcing the resolution.

Wednesday's Words regarding the Safety Conference & Johnson County Gateway Project

For this week's Wednesday's Words, we're sharing some of our favorite tweets regarding a couple big events that were held yesterday.  During the Kansas Transportation Safety Conference, KDOT Secretary Mike King gave out Itunes gift cards for the first three people to follow the agency on Twitter and the first three people who liked KDOT's Facebook page.  Here are few tweets from that conference.

The Johnson County Gateway project also broke ground yesterday.  Here are a few tweets from that event.

Wednesday's Words with Google

On Monday, Google purchased Titan Aerospace, a start-up founded in 2012 that makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones. Facebook was also considering acquiring the company to help bring internet access to parts of the world that don't have it.

"Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world," Google said. "It's still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation." 

Here's a look at how the solar-powered drones work.

Wednesday's Words Regarding Senior Drivers

“Senior drivers are our safest drivers. Because of their vast experience as drivers, they tend not to engage in dangerous behaviors, such as speeding, drinking and driving, they tend to self-regulate their driving by not driving as much at night or in heavy traffic."

"However, they are over-represented in fatal crashes because of their fragility. Issues with vision, reaction time, and understanding other mind and body changes become more of an issue as we age. The problem is that we all age differently. On average, men and women outlive their ability to drive by six to ten years, respectively, so it is increasingly important that we take a new view of planning for driving retirement, similar to the way we plan financially for retirement.”

-- Jim Hanni, executive vice president of public affairs for AAA in Kansas.

These remarks were made during the March 18 Kansas Senior Driver Summit in Topeka.  The event was sponsored by AAA Allied Group and KDOT.

Wednesday's Words: Highway Trust Fund Shortfall by July

"Based on current spending and revenue trends, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund will encounter a shortfall before the end of fiscal year (FY) 2014.

•  The Highway Account began FY 2014 with approximately $1.6 billion in cash.
• A $9.7 billion transfer from the General Fund to the Highway Account was processed shortly after the start of the fiscal year ($10.4 billion authorized in MAP-21, reduced by sequestration).
• The surface transportation program continues to outlay at a greater pace than receipts are coming in.  As a result, the cash balance has dropped by nearly $3.3 billion since the General Fund transfer occurred.  As of the last week of February 2014, the Highway Account cash balance was $8.6 billion."

 -          U.S. DOT 

Wednesday's Words: Record-setting year for transit

Public transportation systems in the U.S. reached their highest ridership levels since 1956 last year with 10.7 billion people taking transit trips, according to statistics released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

“There is a fundamental shift going on in the way we move about our communities,”APTA President Michael Melaniphy said in a statement. “People in record numbers are demanding more public transit services and communities are benefiting with strong economic growth.”

Given this record-setting demand, it's not surprising on Tuesday the APTA recommended that Congress increase its funding of transit systems in the U.S. by $11.5 billion per year.

“Increasing investment in public transportation and roads is essential for growing our economy in the U.S. and remaining competitive in a global economy,” Melaniphy said.

Kansas has seen transit ridership grow substantially over the past decade.  As a result, when the state's transportation plan, T-WORKS, was passed in 2010 it increased funding from $6 million to $11 million annually.

If you want to learn more about the APTA proposal, click here to visit its website.

Do you think funding for transit services need to be increased?  Let us know in the comment box below.

Wednesday's Words with the President

President Barack Obama and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx tour a light rail facility in St. Paul, Minn. on Feb. 26.  (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Last week, President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive transportation plan, which would invest $302 billion over four years to improve America's infrastructure.  Below are excerpts from the speech he gave in Minnesota about the proposal.

"As a percentage of GDP, countries like China, Germany, they're spending about twice what we're spending in order to build infrastructure -- because they know that if they have the fastest trains on the planet or the highest-rated airports or the busiest, most efficient ports that businesses will go there.

But we don't want businesses to go there. We want them to come here to Minnesota. We want them to come here to the United States of America.  And that means the best airports and the best roads and the best trains should be right here in America.   

Next week, I'm going to send Congress a budget that funds rebuilding our transportation infrastructure in a more responsible way -- by doing it over four years, which gives cities and states and private investors the certainty they need to plan major projects. Projects like repairing essential highways and bridges; building new transit systems in fast-growing cities and communities, so folks who live there can get to work and school every day and spend less time sitting in traffic. And we're going to have to construct smarter, more resilient transportation systems that can withstand the worst impacts of climate change, like bigger surges of water that we’ve seen in recent floods. 

So, all told, my transportation budget will support millions of jobs nationwide. And we’ll pay for these investments in part by simplifying the tax code. We’re going to close wasteful tax loopholes, lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs here at home, stop rewarding companies for sending jobs to other countries, use the money we save in this transition to create good jobs with good wages rebuilding America. It makes sense." 

-President Barack Obama 

For more information about the President's plan, click here.

Wednesday's Words with Jimmy Fallon

In this week’s Wednesday’s Words we give a shout out to the new host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon.  Every Wednesday, Fallon tweets a funny hashtag and shares his favorite responses later that night on the show.  One of the best hashtags he’s ever done involved transportation.  He asked his followers to tweet out stories about the worst car they ever had.  Here are a few of the responses.  If you have a funny car story, please share it in the comment box below.

You can watch the entire segment about the worst cars below.

Wednesday's Words

What does the Foxx say?

Anthony Foxx

“We’re trying to help create a 21st century context for decision makers at every level,” U.S. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “Part of our responsibility is helping us think with our heads, and not just with our hearts, about where investments will give us the best return on value."

This is a quote from Secretary Foxx’s recent interview with the Associated Press.  Foxx spoke on a variety of topics—most notably he shared his optimism for Congress to help shore up funding to the federal Highway Trust Fund, which has been in danger of insolvency for years.

Click here to read the full interview.

Wednesday’s Words is a feature designed to recognize key quotes relevant to transportation.